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A US district judge has dismissed claims by a Los Angeles
strip club that Rockstar Games breached copyright by
designing a similar looking virtual strip club for Grand
Theft Auto: San Andreas.

According to documents obtained by US website Gamasutra, E.S.S.
Entertainment - owners of The Play Pen club - filed suit
against Rockstar in April of last year. The suit claimed that
the strip club in GTA, which is titled The Pig Pen,
represented trademark infringement, due to its similar name,
logo, awning and 'Totally nude' advertising slogan.

Rockstar conceded that its artists worked from photographs of
real life LA locations - including the Play Pen - when
designing the game, but argued that they "changed the names,
building designs and overall look and feel of the
locations... To make them fit the virtual, cartoon-style
world of San Andreas and the series' irreverent tone."

Rockstar also referred to the lawsuit MCA Records
successfully defended over the song Barbie Girl, when the
judge ruled that trademark rights "do not entitle the owner
to quash an unauthorised use of the mark by another who is
communicating ideas or expressing points of view."

Judge Margaret Morrow agreed with Rockstar's argument, ruling
that, "Defendants' use of the Play Pen trade dress and
trademark bears some artistic relevance to the game, and does
not explicitly mislead consumers as to the source or content
of the game." Rockstar, Judge Morrow said, was therefore
entitled to claim a First Amendment defence.

Perhaps the controvery surrounding GTA: San Andreas will
finally die down now, following both this legal decision and
the ruling
by the FTC over the Hot Coffee scandal. But chances are
Rockstar will be in the news again soon - the company
recently confirmed to our sister site, Eurogamer, that controversial
school-based game Bully is on track for release by the end of
the year.